Vol 12, Issue 11, 2019 Online - 2455-3891 Print - 0974-2441 IN VITRO EVALUATION OF ANTIDIABETIC AND CYTOTOXICITY POTENTIALS OF THE RHIZOME EXTRACT OF DRYNARIA QUERCIFOLIA (L.) J. SMITH PRASANNA G*, DEVI R, ISHWARYA G Department of Biochemistry, Sengamala Thayaar Educational Trust Women’s College, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: gprasannakeerthi@gmail.com Received: 27 August 2019, Revised and Accepted: 16 September 2019 ABSTRACT Objective: In the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the in vitro antidiabetic and cytotoxic potentials of the rhizome extract of Drynaria quercifolia (L.) J. Smith. Methods: In vitro antidiabetic activity was determined by two different assays such as alpha-amylase inhibition assay and glucose uptake assay. The plant extract with three different concentrations was used for this assay. L6 rat myogenic cells were selected and subjected to glucose uptake assay. The cytotoxic activity of the different concentrations of the plant extract on HepG2 cell line was also investigated in vitro through 3-(4,5, dimethythiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results: The findings of the study provide evidence that the rhizome extract of D. quercifolia possesses significant anti-diabetic activity. In MTT assay, the significant cytotoxic effect of plant extract was observed by measuring the percentage of cell viability on the HepG2 cell line. Conclusion: The findings indicated that rhizome extracts of D. quercifolia have potential as a medicinal drug against diabetes mellitus (DM) and liver cancer. Further, studies with in vivo and clinical trials need to be conducted to establish rhizome extract as a safe agent for DM and liver cancer therapy. Keywords: Anticancer, Antidiabetic, Cytotoxicity, Drynaria quercifolia, HepG2, L6 rat myogenic cells, 3-(4,5, dimethythiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay, Rhizome extract. INTRODUCTION Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the metabolic and endocrinological disorders [1-3] which is a resulting from an irregularity in insulin secretions and insulin actions or both. Absence or reduced insulin secretion leading to persistence of high glucose level and glucose intolerance [4]. Diabetes is generally accepted as a major challenging health problem all over the world and especially in the developing countries. 3.5 million deaths occur globally by diabetes [5]. Insulin therapy, oral hypoglycemic agents, restricted diet, exercises either singly or in combination constitute a major regimen of therapy available for the present day diabetics. Although in modern medicine, there is no satisfactory effective therapy available to cure Diabetes Mellitus. In a many numbers of cases, treatment with traditional medicine in the form of plant extracts has been reported to give remarkable good results [6]. Plant and plant products played an important role in the treatment of DM and had been used throughout the world since ancient times. Folk and traditional medicine healing system has been used globally as an antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, and antidiabetic properties from plants [7]. Moreover, since the herbal products are coming from biological origin, they can subside the limitations arising from the use of conventional hypoglycemic. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver malignancy, and it may cause death worldwide. According to a recent estimate, about 782,000 people were diagnosed with liver cancer, out of which 746,000 people died [8]. A total of 30,640 new liver and intra hepatic bile duct cancer were estimated in 2013 in addition to the 21,670 deaths [9]. The efficacies of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy, or surgery, which are mainly used for the treatment of cancer, are well-known for side effects [10]. Hence, the identification of novel natural products that possess better effectiveness against cancer, but less harmful effects have become desirable [11], and therefore, natural products are continuously being explored worldwide. Keeping the above states in mind, present study has been designed to assess the antidiabetic and cytotoxicity potentials of the rhizome extract of medicinal fern, Drynaria quercifolia L (J.) Smith by in vitro assays. Drynaria, commonly known as basket ferns, is a genus of ferns in the family of Polypodiaceae. It contains around 16 species. They are found in wet tropical environments, usually in rainforests [12]. D. quercifolia contains various phytochemicals such as phenols, tannins, alkaloids, proteins, xanthoproteins, carboxylic acid, coumarins, saponins, catechin, flavonoids, steroids, and triterpenes [13]. Phytochemicals such as friedelin, epifriedelinol, beta-amyrin, beta-sitosterol, beta-sitosterol 3-beta-D-glucopyranoside, 3, 4 di hydroxyl benzoic acid, acetyl lupeol, aglycone naringenin, and flavones glycoside naringin were identified in dried rhizomes of D. quercifolia. Many pharmacological activities have been reported such as antimicrobial [14], antidermatophytic [15], antioxidant [16-18], hepatoprotective [19], anti-inflammatory and antipyretic [20], analgesic [21], and anti-ulcer [22] activities. METHODS Collection of plant material The rhizomes of D. quercifolia (L.) J. Smith was collected from Kollimalai, Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu, India. The collected rhizomes were carefully baggage in polythene bags. These plant samples were authenticated by Dr. S. John Britto, Director, RAPINAT Herbarium, St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli, and a voucher specimen was deposited in the Department of Biochemistry, S. T. E. T. Women’s College, Mannargudi (Voucher No.:001). Extract preparation 10 g of the powdered sample was extracted with 85% methanol using Soxhlet extraction method. The filtrate was condensed using rotary vacuum evaporator at 45°C and the extract was stored at 4°C until used. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4. 0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2019.v12i11.35078 Research Article